Day Ten: Long-lost Friends

While in San Antonio, Hank and I have both had the opportunity to reconnect with childhood friends. Even though it had been years since either of us had seen our respective friends, there was an instant kindred bond because of the faith we share.

While Hank was in his conference, the kids and I met up with Beth and her kids. I was explaining to my kids how I know Beth when I realized how much of a labyrinthine affiliation it is. I think it goes something like this: when my dad lived in Italy as a teenager, his parents met Beth's grandparents. I believe it was they who introduced my Grandma, my dad, and his siblings to faith in Christ. My dad and his siblings kept in touch with Beth's dad and his siblings, and over the years and periodic visits, my siblings and I became friends with Beth and her siblings. Simple, right?

Anyhow, it was a beautiful thing to be able to sit and talk with each other, to catch each other up on the previous 20 or so years of our lives, and to realize just how many things we have in common. There is a reason for a familiarity that goes beyond our dads' history of friendship or the fact that we are both stay-at-home-moms. We are different parts of the same body! There are many places throughout the Bible where this concept is illustrated, but the basic is this:
All of you together are the body of Christ. Each one of you is a part of that body. (1 Corinthians 12:27)
I love this thought! I am not on my own in this life! Here is this other woman, a couple thousand miles away from my life, raising her kids and wiping jelly smears from the walls, yet she is walking the same road I am. My family is so spread out--just to see one sister, my parents, and a friend who is like a sister, I will have driven over four thousand miles. I don't like the fact that my siblings and I are all living such separate lives! But moments like these remind me that even though I don't necessarily have physical proximity with any of my family, I am surrounded by and connected to a much larger aggregate of spiritual family that is almost wherever I go.